Of Fab Fives

Taken from Fille's Facebook via Noel Zarate's Yahoo! Ph blog

On an early Wednesday evening, at the Mall of Asia Arena, The Lady Spikers of De La Salle were celebrating their third straight UAAP women's volleyball title.

They won in straight sets, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16 over a game Ateneo side that tried their best to match wits and skills against the reigning champions. One might say, it was a mirror image of the last time these teams played at the MOA Arena, the first time women's volleyball was played at such a large venue.

But this post is not about Mika Reyes or Ara Galang or Aby Marano or Coach Ramil.

This is about Fille Cainglet, Dzi Gervacio, Gretchen Ho, A Nacachi and Jem Ferrer.

This is about the "Fab Five" of Loyola Heights. Five ladies who stood the test of time and built something not just for Ateneo, but for the sport itself.

When Ateneo made the finals for the second straight season, I thought of the analogy to the 2002 basketball team. Yeah, that team of the Season of Grace. I thought losing last year would then lead to winning this year.

I was wrong, then. Because, well, the laidesdid not win the title this year.

And then, it hit me. I used the wrong collegiate basketball team for the analogy.

The term "Fab Five" in sports is best linked to the University of Michigan Wolverines' quintet of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. As freshmen and sophomores, they made it all the way to the NCAA Finals, losing both times. Best remembered for the whole Chris Webber "timeout" shenanigans in the 1993 NCAA Finals vs North Carolina, this particular recruitment class should be remembered as the ones who set the stage for what is the atmosphere of American collegiate basketball today (whether that is good or bad will be a question for another day).

If you ask the experts, this season in women's volleyball has been historic and unprecedented. One might say, this is the season when the sport became mainstream instead of being merely a side story or a supplement. And a lot of that, (but not all of it, though) had to do with these ladies.

Who in their wildest dreams would think that a volleyball match will be played at the Mall of Asia Arena and the Araneta Coliseum? It's so far away from matches being played at the CHK Gym in UP or the Blue Eagle Gym. ABS-CBN Sports were delighted with attendance records being broken and tv ratings matching, if not exceeding men's basketball. Hey, it made me stop and pay attention a little more that I used to do. And for that, I am grateful.

They deserve a great send-off. Perhaps that bonfire tonight will do the trick. After all, they deserve it.

So I say, thank you to the five of you. And to the remaining ladies, it's time to build on the foundation they set. May the force be with you.